SPIDER PEST CONTROL

Spiders – otherwise known as the insect of nightmares, are actually very non aggressive insects. In many cases, you benefit more from their presence than you probably realize. Spiders with their webs are great trappers of other insects, especially the flying kind.

However when they start to intrude on your turf, it’s time to take action.

CELLAR SPIDER

The cellar spider, common known as the daddy long-leg, is a spider of the Pholcidae family. Often said to have the most dangerous venom in the world, but fangs too small to pierce skin to inject the venom – don’t worry though, that’s just a myth.

CELLAR SPIDER APPEARANCES

Females have a body length of about 9 mm and males are slightly smaller. Its legs are about 5 or 6 times the length of its body.

CELLAR SPIDER HABITS

Cellar spiders get their name from being known to spin webs in the cellar of a property but they can be found nearly anywhere, generally in the ceiling corners. They are often found in warmer locations as they cannot survive in colder temperatures for long at all. Cellar spiders are actually considered greatly beneficial in some parts of the world as they will trap and kill other venomous insects, including other spiders species.

CELLAR SPIDER REPRODUCTION HABITS

Because they originally came from the subtropics, these spiders do not appear to be influenced by seasonal changes and breed at any time of the year. The female holds the 20 to 30 eggs. Spiderlings are transparent with short legs and change their skin about 5 or 6 times as they mature.

BROWN RECLUSE SPIDER

Luckily for most of us, the brown recluse is not an invasive spider species. While they do actively hunt, they prefer paths less traveled by humans and stick to isolated locations.

BROWN RECLUSE SPIDER APPEARANCE

Brown recluse spiders are usually between 1⁄4 inch and 3⁄4 inch but may grow larger. While typically light to medium brown, they range in color from cream-colored to dark brown or blackish gray. These spiders usually have markings on the dorsal side, with a black line coming from it that looks like a violin with the neck of the violin pointing to the rear of the spider, resulting in the nicknames fiddleback spider, brown fiddler, or violin spider.

BROWN RECLUSE SPIDER HABITS

Brown recluse spiders are known to build irregular webs that frequently include a shelter consisting of disorderly thread. They frequently build their webs in woodpiles and sheds, closets, garages, plenum spaces, cellars, and other places that are dry and remain relatively undisturbed. When dwelling in human residences they seem to favor cardboard, possibly because it mimics the rotting tree bark which they inhabit naturally. Like most spiders though, they can be found anywhere.

Brown recluse spider contact generally occurs in isolated spaces, but unlike most web weavers, they leave their webbings at night to hunt. Males will move around more when hunting than brown recluse spider females, which tend to remain nearer to their webs.

BLACK WIDOW SPIDER

Although it’s “common knowledge” that black widows have a distinct red marking, it’s not always the hourglass figure that many think.

BLACK WIDOW SPIDER APPEARANCES

Interestingly enough, not all adult black widow spiders exhibit the red hourglass on the ventrum underside or top of the abdomen — some may have a pair of red spots or have no marking at all. Female black widows often exhibit various red markings on the dorsal or top side of the abdomen, commonly two red spots. However, young black widow spiders are believed to have at least some sort of marking on their abdomens.

Adult male black widows are roughly half the size of the females and are usually gray or brown rather than black and red; while they may sometimes have an hourglass marking on their ventral abdomen, it is usually yellow or white, not red. Variation in specifics by species and by gender is vast; any spider exhibiting a red hourglass or a pair of large red round spots on the ventral abdomen with an otherwise black shiny body is an adult female black widow.

BLACK WIDOW SPIDER HABITS

The widow spiders construct a web of irregular, tangled, sticky silken fibers. The spider very frequently hangs upside down near the center of its web and waits for insects to blunder in and get stuck. Then, before the insect can extricate itself, the spider rushes over to bite it and wrap it in silk. If the spider perceives a threat, it will quickly let itself down to the ground on a safety line of silk. As other web-weavers, these spiders have very poor eyesight and depend on vibrations reaching them through their webs to find trapped prey or warn them of larger threats.

While some species are more aggressive, most are not; many injuries to humans are due to defensive bites delivered when a spider gets unintentionally squeezed or pinched. Some bites are thought to result from a spider mistaking a finger thrust into its web for its normal prey or in cases where a female is protecting an egg sac.